


The Snow Queen

by AgustinaPrasanti



Series: Here be Dragons [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Breaking and Entering, Gen, HIV/AIDS, Vigilantism, junior sleuths being junior sleuths, mentions of rape/non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6292615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgustinaPrasanti/pseuds/AgustinaPrasanti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a new 'superhero' on the block. A woman called the Snow Queen.</p>
<p>Amateur journalist, Gretel Keystone, and her partner in crime, Kyle Locke, will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this mystery woman's identity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Snow Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'll confess that I have a deep love for all things superhero related. Sue me.  
> I will admit that I have no idea how flower shops work, or even how seasons work (since I live in the tropics), so sorry in advance if I happen to get something wrong.

Gretel Keystone had always wanted to be a journalist. It was quite no wonder when both her parents, at some points in their lives, were journalists themselves. They were very much supportive of their daughter's ambitions. Though they did have some reservations with the more… controversial methods she'd use to get her scoop in particular. Which she kind of thought was hypocritical, since she'd gotten evidence that they also had used those methods in the past.

(Unless, of course, sneaking into secret military bunkers hadn't been illegal some twenty years ago. Gretel was pretty sure it had already been.)

And, of course, like all teenagers her age, Gretel had a best-friend-slash-accomplice of her own.

His name was Kyle Locke. The two of them had been friends since they were little. Of course they'd had a few rough patches, in particular the year when Kyle moved away, but they'd managed to pull through together. Unlike her parents though, Kyle was all but against Gretel’s career choice. For all the good it stopped her from dragging him into her ‘adventures’.

Take today for example.

In their part of town, there was a rumor about a supposedly super-powered vigilante running amok. Accounts could only say that it was a woman, targeted sexual harassers and traffickers, and had the unique MO of freezing their appendages off (authorities were still trying to find an explanation that didn't involve something out of a comic book). As for the media, they've latched onto the now dubbed ‘Snow Queen’ as though she were the best thing since sliced bread. And, in a way, perhaps she was.

Anyway, Gretel got all excited about the prospect of uncovering the mysterious Queen. And, like always, she just couldn't leave Kyle out of it.

For the first few months, they had nothing to go off of. All the ‘leads’ they had, couldn't even be called leads. They were just going off of rumors. One such rumor lead to them getting in the middle of a gang shootout. Gretel took that as a sign that they were on the right track. Kyle thought that they were going to die.

It wasn't until one day in December, did they get a solid lead.

Someone had sent flowers to the local hospital. It wouldn't be something out of the ordinary, except for one thing. Those flowers, roses of every shape and color, had been signed by the one and only Snow Queen.

Since it was the middle of winter, it should be somewhat easy to find out who had ordered those flowers. Some flower shops did delivery services like that. But that still left a lot of flower shops and a lot of ground to cover.

Despite the dirty tricks her parents disapproved of Gretel, hacking wasn't one of them. And Kyle… Well. He couldn't even boot up a computer even if you gave him written instructions on it. 

So, without any other options, they had to do things the old-fashioned way.

Easier said than done.

Kyle gave a long-suffering sigh as he went into the third flower shop for the day. After the first day of shop hopping, they'd decided to split up to cover more ground. Which was all fine for him. He didn't need Gretel’s senseless talking his ears off. Not while he was running on his last dredges of patience.

Which reminded him. He really needed to keep an eye on his temper. Considering what happened yesterday…

“Hello there. What can I do for you?” The store clerk asked.

Kyle hadn't realized how deep in thought he'd been. That simple greeting had scared the life out of him.

The store clerk was a young woman. She was tall and Kyle would admit that she was pretty. She had a kind smile and warm eyes. If he had to associate her with a season, without a doubt, he would pick spring. If anything, he would say that she was a stereotypical flower shop clerk.

“Um, sir…?”

Oh, he'd been staring too long.

Kyle cleared his throat, “Uh, right, sorry.”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions,” He went on, “If that would be alright with you.”

The woman raised her eyebrow, but nonetheless nodded, “Of course. What is it for?”

“It's for my friend's blog. I assure you that any answer you'd give will be anonymous,” He said.

The woman gave a light chuckle, “Very well, then. Continue, please.”

Well, that was easy.

“Alright, can I ask you your name?” He asked.

“It's Iris. Iris Queen,” She answered.

Kyle nodded, “Where do you get your flowers from?”

“Some o f them I order from a friend of mine in the South,” She answered, “But most I grow in my greenhouse.”

“Really? Which ones?” Kyle admired one of the flowers on display. A jasmine, it seemed.

“Oh, a few lilies, some carnations,” she listed, “Well, most kinds of flowers, really.”

Kyle sensed that there was something she was leaving out, and pressed on, “How about roses?”

“Well, I do grow them as well…” She answered, “But not as much as I'd like.”

Kyle still felt that she was hiding something. But, alas, his talking skills weren't anywhere near Gretel's. Even if he kept pressing, she would just kick him out. So, with reluctance, he let the matter drop.

“Thank you for answering,” He said, “I should get going now.”

Iris gave him a warm smile, “Of course. Thank you for stopping by.”

As he walked out the door, Kyle couldn’t help but think that there was something odd about Iris Queen. He just couldn’t place his finger on it.

Kyle shared his suspicions with Gretel. She’d always been much better at piecing these things together, even if she didn’t seem like it at first glance.

She pondered over the information he’d given her. For as long as she’d been friends with him, Gretel always found Kyle’s hunches to be fascinating. More often than not, as she’d learned from past experiences, because they were almost always correct. If he felt that something was odd, then it was a good idea to look into it.

But, of course, without any tech support, it was going to be difficult to get info on Iris Queen.

So, once again, they settled on the old-fashioned way.

They spent the better part of two weeks staking out the flower shop. They'd tailed the florist all the way home, but couldn't stake her out until the late hours of the night. Their parents would wonder where they'd went, and they now knew not to accept ‘staying at a friend's’ as a valid excuse. But with the little info they managed to gather from just watching her, they'd known enough of the woman's schedule to know when she'd be leaving.

So when the woman was still at her flower shop, the two broke in. It helped that this wasn't Gretel's first time breaking and entering.

In fact, the girl was almost disappointed when she discovered that it was that easy to sneak inside. It seemed a little too… normal for someone who'd garnered Kyle's interest. She'd expected something much more exciting, to be honest. Her dearest friend just told her to be grateful that they didn't have to deal with anything complicated.

The house, as Gretel had described, was indeed ordinary. They’d entered through the window to find a simple, but homey living room. There was a doorway leading to a kitchen-cum-dining room, a bathroom, and two bedrooms (one of which was barren and seemed to be a guest room). The only thing unordinary about the house was the sprawling backyard and the rather impressive greenhouse.

Gretel sifted through the bookshelf in the living room. There wasn’t much of anything interesting, to be honest. Generic cookbooks, books about plants, the occasional fantasy novel… there was nothing there that could give a hint as to Iris Queen’s big secret, or whether or not it even existed.

She was beginning to think that the entire escapade was a waste of time, Then her eyes landed on a rather familiar looking book.  
It was a school yearbook. But not just any school yearbook. It was a yearbook from back to her mother’s year. She knew that, since she’d riffled through her mother’s own yearbook before. Gretel didn’t think that Iris Queen was old enough to be in highschool when her mother had been attending. Then again, perhaps it wasn’t her’s per say. But that still left the question of whose it was, and what reason did Iris Queen have to keep it in her bookshelf.

Out of curiosity, Gretel began to flip through the book. She'd never paid much attention to the other students, sans her mother. But looking through it now, Gretel couldn't help but start when she saw a name in the yearbook.

Kyle had been looking through the greenhouse, when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. A very cold hand.

“Breaking and entering is a crime, you know,” Came the cold voice of a woman.

It was amazing how one could disguise one's identity by just changing one's attitude. Perhaps if it were anyone else, they wouldn't have recognized the voice. But Kyle had come to terms with the fact that he was much more perceptive than the average Joe. It would almost be an outrage if that voice didn't remind him of someone.

“So this is what you've been hiding,” He said, sounding much calmer than he felt, “Iris Queen.”

The Snow Queen didn't answer, but Kyle felt the hand on his shoulder tighten for just a fraction of a second. A warning.

“What did you do to Gretel?” A part of his brain knew she was safe, but he just had to ask.

“Still in the living room,” She answered, “I don't think she noticed me.”

“Look, we-”

Kyle never got to finish that sentence, as Gretel came bursting into the room at just that moment. Any greeting died at her lips as she saw the situation inside the room.

“Well, I guess she notices me now,” The woman remarked.

And the two teens would've laughed out of sheer absurdity, if they weren't so scared out of their wits.

Despite it all, somehow, Gretel had worked up the courage to say, “Rose Queen.”

That caught the vigilante’s attention. Her hand left Kyle’s shoulder as she whirled around at the girl, her eyes wide. With nothing holding him back, Kyle all but dashed and placed himself between Gretel and the Snow Queen.

Gretel, meanwhile, only took a deep breath to steel herself before continuing, “Rose Queen. She was your sister, wasn’t she?”

The woman didn’t answer, but Kyle could see the minuscule movements of her form tensing up. 

It also didn’t seem to have gone unnoticed by Gretel, as she plowed on with more confidence, “My mother was in the same year as her. I’m pretty sure they weren’t all that close. She didn’t have a lot of stories about her. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have any stories.”

Kyle waited for her to continue as a tense air filled the room. He really hoped it wouldn’t come down to a real fight.

“She told me she was a good person. That she was well liked,” She continued, “She… I guess my mother looked up to her a lot. Even after what happened.”

She tappered off, as though waiting for the Snow Queen to say something.

And she did, after a long silence.

“... Then I suppose your mother also knew of what happened to her, if she knew that much,” Was what she said.

Gretel nodded, “Not explicitly. But enough for me to piece things together.”

And, somehow, it all clicked in Kyle's head like some sick jigsaw puzzle. The Snow Queen's targets, the flowers to the hospital. It all made sense now. And he was still missing some pieces, but he could get the gist of it. It wasn't a pretty picture from what he could tell.

“My sister didn't deserve to be used like that,” Iris Queen said after a pause, “She was a nice person, she never meant anyone harm.”

“But those people…” Her hands had balled into fists. Kyle could almost feel the rage coming off her in waves.

The woman took a deep breath, and seemed to calm down, “So. Are you going to tell the authorities? Or perhaps write about this in your blog for all to see?”

“No,” Was her answer.

That answer caught Kyle off guard as much as it did Iris. He'd assumed, what with Gretel's usual personality, that she wanted to expose the woman behind the Snow Queen. But if she wasn't going to write it down on her blog, then…

Iris seemed to have come to the same conclusion as him, and balked, “Don't tell me you wish to help me?”

Gretel gave a determined nod, “Of course I want to help you. You're doing so much good to the city by cleaning up all that trash.”

“Look, I…” She began, “When I said that I wanted to help you, I didn't mean by going out into the field or anything.”

“I noticed that you were always alone. And looking at your house, you're still alone, even out of costume,” She said, “I can't help with the big things, like take down entire trafficking rings. What I meant was with the little things. Like patching you up, making sure you've eaten or shit… Y’know, things like that.”

“Y-you don't really have to do that…” It was quite the sight to see the mighty Snow Queen be so flustered.

And Gretel gave her a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat proud, “Sorry, but I've already decided, and I'm going to go through with it. Whether you want me to, or not!”

And for the first ye since the conversation started, Kyle let himself relax just a little bit.

“Don't try to fight her on this,” He said, “She'll go into full-on stalker mode if you refuse.”

And despite it all, Kyle found himself smiling as well.

Needless to say, all three of their lives would never be the same again.


End file.
